Recipe: One-Pot Southern-Style Green Beans

Green beans are a part of most every Southern family’s suppers. Their key distinction is that they are cooked down in liquid until quite soft, almost to the point of “mush.” In traditional Southern cooking, they are also cooked and flavored with ham hocks or pork knuckles. This take on the classic uses a smoked, bone-in ham steak for flavor, which can be found in almost every grocery store. Ground cloves provide a comforting depth of flavor, and a little sugar — a trick used by old-school Southern cooks, including my grandmother — balances the salty, smoky taste.

These beans are soulful and quite satisfying and an easy side to add to your weeknight dinner table.

In traditional Southern cooking, green beans are flavored by ham hocks or pork knuckles to produce a salty, meaty taste. But this recipe takes inspiration from my childhood and uses a smoked, bone-in ham steak. My grandmother drizzled ham steaks with peach juice and dusted them with ground cloves, which was a quick way of getting dinner on the table while adding an element of sophistication to our meal.

Shopping for ham steak: Ham steaks are readily available at supermarkets, usually sold in the bacon section. The bone-in version provides the greatest amount of flavor, but a boneless steak works well too.

These beans honor the traditional cooking method of Southern green beans while borrowing from my grandmother’s ham steak dinner trick. The result is a comforting, soulful, Dutch-oven meal that surprises as much as it delights. Sweet onions bring character to the beans, while the cloves provide a comforting depth. White sugar — a trick used by old-school Southern cooks — bridges the ham’s salty, smoky taste with the gentle bitterness of the beans. Serve right from the pot with pieces of ham along with the beans.